IL-2’s developer diary comes a day early this week and it comes absolutely packed with new screenshots showing off their new cloud technology which is being developed for the core of the sim. Let’s have a look at some new clouds!
New visuals, new localized weather!
We’ve know for a little while now that IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles was going to be upgrading their cloud technology. In the last two years we’ve seen Microsoft Flight Simulator and then DCS World 2.7 both introduce next generation volumetric cloud tech. Now, it’s IL-2’s turn.
According to the most recent developer post coming out earlier today, the new clouds can be larger, have more variety, and they can now support localized weather which means we’ll finally be able to fly in and out of rain storms in the IL-2 series. Fantastic!
The update goes on to say that the IL-2 team has done this with just two team members assigned (keeping in mind that 1CGS is significantly smaller than many other flight sim dev teams) and that they are going to be collaborating with community member “rowdyb00t” who is well known in mod circles for enhancing the look of the current IL-2 cloud technology.
Here are the screenshots of the new technology for your enjoyment below.
Gameplay interaction
The upgrades are exciting and they have both a visual component as well as one that will directly affect how we fly.
First, the goal of keeping up with other sims in the visual technology department is never a bad thing and these new clouds may not exceed the other recent releases but they certainly aim to match them.
These will also have an impact on gameplay in some significant ways seeing as WWII air combat is very visually driven and so using cloud formations to shield from interception, using them as a means of ambush, or avoiding them altogether are all going to become even more variable and valuable than before. There’s also the new localized weather with rainstorms that you can fly into and out of. That will almost certainly have an important impact on gameplay both online and off.
And it’s worth mentioning too that this core technology improvement will have impacts across the board adding more interesting gameplay opportunities for Flying Circus pilots who will be uniquely affected as well as Tank Crew vehicle enthusiasts. A localized rainstorm may make part of your journey better protected from attacking aircraft while emerging from it may open you up to attack.
I’m excited by the potential all around!
Stormbirds 
In DCS the new clouds made quite a big impact, not just on the visuals, but on the whole flying experience.
So having a new cloud technology with similar effects in IL-2 should provide for some exciting potential indeed!
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DCS’s current clouds are stunning visually, but IL2’s clouds have been pretty good for awhile now.
The localized weather sounds the most intriguing to me. I live in a place with frequent spotty rainstorms, and there’s something really cool about being in rain, and seeing the sun shining through ahead.
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Did NOT see this coming so fast after last week’s update. What a pleasant surprise! IL2 clouds have never been bad imo, but this just takes it to that next level.
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This plus dynamic (movable) weather fronts and both Il-2 and DCS will finally get what BMS got in 2015 😉
Good news anyway, weather represantion is my favourite feature in video games, especially in flight simulators.
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Thanks for the update. I’m out of touch but how is the AI situational awareness (aka seeing through clouds) in the current version? Is there an issue and we’re there any points about this?
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IL-2’s AI are already aware of clouds and it is possible to evade them by flying through denser clouds and staying out of sight. I did this just about a week ago in career mode so it works. I would imagine that the new clouds will continue to be connected with the AI and their awareness will suffer accordingly.
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Nice!
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